Bid to reduce CPA surcharge in Duxbury defeated

Duxbury’s Town Meeting on March 14 narrowly defeated a proposal to sharply reduce the property-tax surcharge used to help fund projects through the Community Preservation Act.

The proposal, which also would have required approval by voters in the 2010 town election, called for reducing the surcharge by more than 90 percent, from 3 percent to 0.25 percent.

Measures to reduce the CPA surcharge are also on town meeting warrants elsewhere this spring, including Plymouth and Hingham.

Proponents of the drastic surcharge cut had argued that the savings to taxpayers could help to offset the cost of debt exclusions needed to fund a series of capital projects, including renovating the fire station and building a new police station.

Duxbury was among the first communities to adopt the Community Preservation Act, which was introduced in 2001 as a means of helping cities and towns preserve open space, maintain historic sites, and create affordable housing. The state recently reduced its dollar-for-dollar match of money raised through the surcharge, but Duxbury Conservation Administrator Joe Grady is among those who stress that, in addition to the state match, the locally raised CPA funds also serve to leverage other sources of project funding.

Duxbury has generated a total of $13.4 million through the CPA surcharge and state matching funds. Grady said the town has been able to use that money to obtain an additional $4.8 million in the form of grants and donations for specific projects.

The CPA money has been used for purposes ranging from preserving one of the region’s few dairy farms to funding a first-time homeowner program.